Chapter 13

It had been 2 weeks since the fireworks festival and as expected, the quints weren't doing as good as I hoped they would.

"Yotsuba! How many times do I have to tell you that you have to pronounce rice with an "R"! Stop saying lice, do you eat lice every meal?" I say as I pulled on Yotsuba's ears.

Yotsuba was startled by my sudden actions, but responded pretty quickly, "S-s-sorry Uesugi-san! I'll say it with an "R" this time! Rice! Rice! Rice!" I finally let go of her ears as I was satisfied with her pronunciation.

"Uesugi-kun… You didn't have to go that far, it's a small mistake. We constantly swap between "L" and "R" for English words, so could you please give us some leeway?" asked a concerned Itsuki as she gave Yotsuba an ice packet for her now swelling ears.

I looked at all the quints in the room, a look of concern in their faces, and sighed. "I… I guess I was being a little too harsh for this one. Sorry, Yotsuba. I suppose that wasn't the best thing to do."

Yotsuba shook her head. "It's alright, Uesugi-san! I might not be the brightest among us but I know you didn't mean anything bad when you did that!"

Nino scoffed and handed her worksheet to me. "He's probably just venting out his frustrations on us. I mean, his job is on the line if we don't do well on our midterms this month. Anyone would be stressed out in that situation."

I lowered my head and sighed, "Yes, Nino's right. I have been a little stressed with making you all pass your midterms, and it's unfair of me to treat you that way." I then looked at Nino's worksheet and handed it back to her. "You used the wrong formulas for this worksheet, it's a^2 + b^2 = c^2, not a^2 + b^2 = c. Try again, Nino.

"Geh! I… I knew that! I just forgot to write the last part and screwed up!" Nino said embarrassed as she ripped the paper out of my hands.

I looked on over to the remaining quints, Miku was listening to music as she answered the science worksheet I gave her, she looked to be in a groove right now so I guess it would be best to leave her to her own for now. Ichika, on the other hand barely even started on the Japanese History worksheet I gave her, and her eyes kept darting between the papers and her phone, and I pretty much knew the reason why.

I sat beside her and lightly bonked her on the head. "You nervous about the casting? You've been staring a hole into your phone ever since I came in today."

Ichika nodded, "It was that obvious, huh? But yeah, I'm really nervous, I mean, this is a role for a major TV series, I'm surprised you aren't nervous about being cast or not, you auditioned for one of the lead roles!"

"I'll have you know that I don't really mind not being cast, I was dragged into the audition without my consent. And I have no experience in acting, so I doubt I'll even be cast at all."

"You played a pretty decent Shiro, though. Even Oda-san wanted to scout you, remember?"

"He was just caught up in the moment, you were the real star of the audition after all." Suddenly, Ichika's phone started ringing, and it didn't even take a second for everyone in the room to go silent and crowd over Ichika. The name of the caller was clear as day, "MANAGER ODA".

Ichika nervously got her phone and put it on speaker. "Hello, Oda-san?'

A very excited voice, clearly Oda-san's, said, "CONGRATULATIONS ICHIKA! YOU GOT THE PART, YOU'RE OFFICIALLY CAST AS RIN KUROSAWA!"

There was a moment of silence right after the announcement, everyone was taking in what was just announced, and suddenly everyone burst into cheer! Ichika gave me a hug I didn't know she was capable of doing, nearly squeezing the air out of my lungs, "Oh my god! I got the part! I couldn't have done it without you, Fuutarou-kun! If you didn't push me to take the audition, this wouldn't have happened!"

Oda-san's voice popped up again as he heard my name. "Oh, Uesugi is there as well? I tried contacting him earlier, but he wouldn't pick up!"

I reach for the inside of my pocket and felt that my phone wasn't in it, I must have forgotten it at home earlier. I moved closer to Ichika's phone and coughed. "Yeah I'm here sir, I had forgotten my phone at home earlier, I apologize for the inconvenience. So I assume I didn't get the part?"

As soon as I said that, the entire room went quiet. All the cheering and yelling from earlier vanished as the announcement regarding my audition was about to come.

"Unfortunately, the role of Shiro Kusakabe was given to another man, and I was sure that you were going to land the role too!"

"Well, I wasn't expecting that I would get the role anyway but thank you nonetheless for thinking so highly of me."

"You didn't let me finish, Uesugi. You may not have gotten the role of Shiro, but your performance at the audition was good enough to land you a supporting role as Rin's childhood friend, Renji Emiya. Congratulations!"

"…Eh?" I wasn't expecting to get a role at all, but they seriously gave me a role as the childhood friend? And if my limited knowledge of dramas is accurate, then that would make me as a love interest!

Without a single hesitation, the quints started cheering again. This time the one to hug me was Yotsuba, with an even stronger bear hug.

"Congratulations, Uesugi-san! You got a role along with Ichika! Don't go forgetting us now that you're going to be famous, okay?"

Miku smiled and gave a thumbs-up, "Congratulations, Fuutarou!"

A very excited Nino took me and Ichika by the hand and placed us side-by-side. She took out her phone and started snapping pictures, "This has got to be announced on my socials! Congratulations to both of you, by the way!"

"I say that we should celebrate! It's not every day that someone we know gets cast for a TV drama after all!"

I sigh and smile, "Alright, let's all celebrate then, only on the condition that you all finish at least one worksheet. I'm not gonna leave this tutoring session empty-handed!"

The quints groaned as they made their way back to the living room, Miku finished earlier than the rest of her sisters and handed in her science worksheet. I scanned through it and saw that she made a couple of mistakes, but they were significantly lesser compared to when I first taught her in my previous life.

"Alright, good job Miku! I noticed that you were in quite a good mood earlier while you were working on this, so I didn't want to disturb you. Looks like it was the right call seeing as you did way better in this compared to the first test I gave you."

Miku nodded, "Well with you as my tutor, it wasn't too hard…"

I placed a hand on Miku's head. "Hey, all I did was teach, you were the one who put in all the effort, Miku. Keep it up, I'm rooting for you."

Miku turned bright red and quickly left to get changed. Itsuki, Nino, and Yotsuba then followed soon after, leaving only Ichika with her worksheet. I walked on over to where she was and looked at her paper. "You switched Nobunaga and Hideyoshi's original names by the way. It should be Kichihoshi and Hiyoshimaru, not the other way around."

Ichika turned my way, not realizing that my face was literally inches away from hers. She blushed at how close we were and went back to filling up her worksheet. "Fuutarou-kun! I… got mixed up with the names is all, you can't expect me to memorize all of those names after all!"

I shook my head, "With all that ability to memorize a script, I was expecting you to at least get two important names right." I say jokingly as I sat next to her. I noticed that her worksheet was just one page away from being finished and got it from her. "That'll be enough for today, we wouldn't want you to be late to your own celebration now, after all."

Ichika smiled and stood up, "Thanks, Fuutarou-kun. But it's your celebration too, don't forget that!" I watched her eagerly move towards her room and waited for the quints to come out of their respective rooms.

To pass the time, I decided to check on everyone's papers. Miku's was already checked so I quickly went through it. Itsuki and Nino still had difficulties with Math, they still could solve a simple problem regarding the Pythagorean theorem, but I could clearly see the effort, especially in Itsuki's paper. Yotsuba was starting to get the hang of using some basic English words too. "Guess I'll have to focus more on her pronunciation for the next session then…" I murmured to myself. Ichika's paper was a mess, all the names and dates were wrong, but I supposed with her anxiety about the casting she wouldn't have had much time to actually study this week's material.

"Uesugi-kun! We're ready to leave when you are!" Shouted Itsuki from the kitchen, a cookie already in her mouth.

Out of nowhere, Nino started pinching Itsuki's sides. "You're already eating when we're about to celebrate? At this rate, you might start growing bigger curves over here!"

The color practically got sucked out of Itsuki's face at that remark. "P-p-please! Anything but that! Dieting is too difficult, especially with your cooking, Nino!"

Everyone in the room laughed at Itsuki's predicament while I stood up and got my bag. Nino came up to me and asked, "So, where are we going to celebrate then? With this being so sudden our usual celebration spots won't be able to take us in."

"Ah yes, the dilemma of the financially stable," I say jokingly as I thought of a place to go to, and an idea popped into my head, Revival should have opened by now! I can bring the quints there and we can celebrate with affordable cakes and drinks. "I know a place that I know you guys will love. It may not be as bougie as what you guys are used to, but I can guarantee you'll enjoy it.

"And what exactly is this place you're so confident of, Fuutarou-kun? With people like Nino and Itsuki in our group, you might be sorely mistaken" asked a curious Ichika.

"It's a café called Revival. If I'm not mistaken, it's just newly opened so not that many people know about it yet. I found out about the place when I was searching for another job to take before your father employed me."

Yotsuba's head popped up from behind Ichika, "Ooooh sounds like fun! I wouldn't mind going there! Besides, we're also celebrating his casting too, so we should at least consider the place, right?"

Itsuki and Nino immediately went on their phones, probably searching up the establishment. After a bit of searching, they looked at each other and nodded.

"The cakes there do appear to be delicious, but there's only one way to find out!" said an eager Itsuki as she showed us a picture of a strawberry chiffon cake with the classic "Revival" topper on it.

"The place looks decent enough for a celebration too, so I'm up for it." Said Nino with a shrug

Miku nodded as well, "I don't really mind where we go, to be honest. As long as Fuutarou and Ichika are okay with it, then I'll go anywhere."

Ichika hooked her arm around mine and grinned, "I guess it's decided then! Lead the way, Fuutarou-kun!"

Without much of a say, I was dragged out of the suite, and we then made our way to the café. Luckily the café wasn't too far away so we managed to walk our way there pretty quickly. The doors of Revival were open, so we made our way in. "Boss! Table for six please!"

In the blink of an eye, the boss appeared from behind the counter. Come to think of it, I never really got his name and continued calling him "boss", but I suppose that didn't matter at the moment. "It's a pleasure to meet you! Welcome to my fine establishment, Revival! The name's Ren, feel free to sit wherever you like!"

With that, we sat down at a table close to the pastry display. I stood up and smiled, "Let me be the one to order for you guys believe me or not, I know just the right pastries to get for all of you."

"And what happens if we don't like the pastries?" Asked Nino.

"You can punch me in the gut for every pastry you guys don't like."

"Deal."

With the deal already made, I went toward Ren at the counter. He looked at me, confused. "Aren't you going to look at the pastries before ordering, sir?"

"No need, I know exactly what we want, and I'm sure you aren't the type of guy to back down from having to do a complicated order now, aren't you?"

A smirk showed on his face. "You know what? I like you, kid. Are you looking for a job? I could use a guy like you here at Revival. What's your name, kid?"

"It's Fuutarou Uesugi, and I appreciate the offer, but I'm not looking for a job currently. Apparently, I just got a job earlier this afternoon. But I will keep in touch though. So anyway… do you think you could make a cake with five different flavors?"

"Of course, I can! I won't back down from a challenge like this after all!" he said as he flexed his arm.

After discussing the flavors to be used, he quickly went to work, he skillfully made the cake with all five of its different flavors equally divided into five cake slices. He gave the cake to me and smiled, "Enjoy the cake, Uesugi-kun!"

I carefully walked my way to the table and presented the quints the cake. "I present to you a quintuple flavored cake. A mango graham cake for Ichika, an ube cheesecake for Nino, a blueberry matcha cake for Miku, a green velvet cake crusted with pistachios for Yotsuba, and a strawberry chiffon cake for Itsuki!"

The quints all looked at the cake in awe, their mouths salivating just at the sight of it. Itsuki reached out for her cake slice and soon her sisters got their slices as well.

Itsuki looked like she was in heaven as she had her first bite. "Mmmmm Uesugi-kun you weren't joking when you knew what flavors to get! This is absolutely decadent!"

"Itsuki's right, Uesugi-san! This cake is amazing!" said Yotsuba, green frosting and pistachios covering her lips

"I love this matcha cake… but I never told you about how I liked matcha, so how did you know I'd like it? Asked Miku as she ate her slice of cake.

"I didn't need to ask you, I just noticed how you kept drinking green tea during our sessions, so I had a hunch that you'd like a matcha cake."

"I see.. wow, I didn't know you were that observant, Fuutarou, thanks again for the cake!" said Miku as she took another bite.

Nino was taking small bites of her cake, she was probably taking note of all the flavors in it before enjoying the whole thing. "I have to say, I had no idea what ube is, but it really complements the cheesecake. Guess I won't be punching you in the gut, unfortunately."

I sighed with relief as Ichika took a bite of her cake. I was expecting something like her Tamako-chan scene, but all she did was close her eyes as she savored the sweet flavors of the cake.

After taking her first bite, Ichika smiled, "Thanks again, everyone. I know you guys didn't know about this whole acting thing until recently, but I really appreciate how supportive you all have been. Words can't express how moved I am to have you guys as my sisters!"

She then placed a hand on my shoulder, "And obviously I have to thank this tutor of ours as well, if he didn't push for me to audition for 'The Quintessential Bride" then we would even be here enjoying all of this delicious cake!" All the quints cheered in agreement as they continued sampling each other's cakes.

After finishing all the cakes, Miku went up to Ren and handed him her credit card. "We'll be using this to pay for the cakes, sir."

Ren shook his head and returned the card. "That won't be necessary, missy. You guys are my first customers so that cakes are on the house, just make sure to spread the word about how good our cakes and pastries are, alright?"

Mike nodded, "Of course, we will, sir! Just leave it to my sisters, they're really active on social media so expect a few customers to pop up in the coming days."

After saying our thanks to Ren, we got out of the café. I said my goodbyes to the quints as well since my home was just a couple train stations away.

The following day I groggily made my way to my seat. I had spent the last making reviewers and worksheets for the quints. I barely made it to my seat before a girl from my class, Matsui, came up to me.

"Hi, Uesugi-san! Are the rumors of you and Nakano-san going out true?"

As soon as she said that I bolted straight out of my seat. "HUH?"


Author's Note:

And I'm back! I apologize for delaying the release of the next chapter, but here it is! I kinda got busy with some IRL stuff and unfortunately couldn't find the time to work on this project. But I'm back now and hopefully, I can stay this way too. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter! Any feedback will be greatly appreciated too!